Ljubljana - The head of the Modern Centre Party (SMC) deputy group, Janja Sluga, said during questions time in parliament today that the anti-coronavirus measures would have been more efficient if government representatives had been able to communicate them better. PM Janez Janša replied it was "a bit off" to listen to her advice given the SMC's low ratings.

Sluga asked Janša to assess the government's work in the past year and present the key projects for the coming year to make sure Slovenia exits the crisis exit as fast, reliably and efficiently as possible.

Janša reiterated that the government had spent about 80% of its time fighting the epidemic in the past year.

Slovenia will take over the presidency of the Council in the second half of the year, which will take a lot of additional energy, he said.

But the prime minister stressed that the government nevertheless wanted to implement the key commitments from the coalition agreement in the future, such as de-bureaucratisation and decentralisation of the country.

The programme for this is ready but the government needs time and space to implement it, he said.

Sluga said that trust was what kept society together in difficult times. "And in light of this actually many people are also wondering why you didn't use the opportunity ... to strengthen cooperation and increase your reputation beyond your existing followers.

"Why resorting to a communication of dispatches, letters, premature congratulations in a situation like this, which has additionally irritated the public at home during the epidemic," she asked, also wondering "why not put out the fire between the STA and UKOM rather then adding fuel to it".

Janša replied that communication was not the problem but an excuse. "The problems are where I described earlier. Those who have thrown in the towel a year ago, can hardly be smart now given the empty warehouses and unpreparedness of the country.

"In a normal situation the government would of course perhaps have had the time to meet once a week to discuss communication, but in this situation we had to introduce another government session to deal with the protection of people's health and lives.

"It is also a little bit off to listen to advice on communication from the chair of the deputy group of a party with a one-percent approval rating to the prime minister and the president of a party that has thirty times higher ratings," Janša said.